


A New Year's Surprise

by andipxndy



Series: Life Beyond the War [3]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-24
Updated: 2016-02-24
Packaged: 2018-05-19 17:39:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5975662
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andipxndy/pseuds/andipxndy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's coming up to New Year at Camp Half Blood, and all is well - friendships have been strengthened, rivalries aren't so violent, and the group has generally become closer, even without Frank and Hazel. But Nico... well, Nico isn't too satisfied with his relationship with a certain person, and he's going to sort that out. Solangelo! And a sequel(-ish) to 'A Christmas Present'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A New Year's Surprise

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from Fanfiction.net (username: The Needless Lobsters)  
> Original Post Date: 18/01/2015  
> Edited & Updated: 23/02/2016
> 
> So this is the sequel oneshot to A Christmas Present. I hope you enjoy it!

Nico sighed as he lay back on the sand, his eyes closed as he relaxed, listening to the waves lapping against the beach.

Despite it being the middle of winter, the gods had decided to bless the demigods with a beautiful, sunny day. And what a beautiful day it was. The sun was up overhead, in the middle of a clear blue sky, and even though it wasn’t hot, the son of Hades considered it warm enough to sunbathe in. With his pale skin, he felt as if he needed a tan anyway, even if he was in his gods-awful bright orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, with a pair of shorts that he and Will had picked out when they’d been dragged out shopping by Piper and Lou Ellen earlier on that year – in September.

Ah, _Will_. Nico’s favourite son of Apollo was sat beside him in the sand, seemingly sunbathing. His blonde hair was curly and turning ever so slightly lighter the longer it stayed out in the sun. His tan was also getting darker by the minute, making a larger contrast between his sky-blue eyes and his skin. According to his siblings, the male needed a break from working almost non-stop in the infirmary, which Nico fully agreed with. The son of Hades kind of needed a day off too, what with spending every day bearing the brunt of Leo and Percy’s jokes and teasing.

So to have a day on the beach with the guy he liked? It was great.

Until they were so _rudely disturbed_.

“ _LEO VALDEZ!_ ”

There was a scampering in the sand, and Nico opened on eye to see the familiar little elfish Latino being chased across the sand, a huge grin on his face (as usual). Behind him, there seemed to be a very angry person, covered in what seemed to be soot. And from that voice, Nico could tell that the person was definitely female.

“Is that _Piper_?” Will asked from his spot beside Nico, and the son of Hades looked over at him to see that he was watching the whole ordeal with a smirk on his face.

Nico sighed. The _one_ time he’d hoped for peace. “It probably is.”

“What happened to her?”

“Someone let Leo be in charge of the fireworks for New Year’s, I’m assuming.”

“Whose bright idea was that?”

“Probably Jason’s.”

Will let out a light chuckle at that, shaking his head before ruffling a hand through his curly hair. “I should’ve known.”

Leo skidded to a stop beside where Nico and Will sat, landing in the sand behind Will and hiding behind him. This was only because Will was the taller of the two boys, standing at around 6 feet tall whereas Nico was about 5 feet 6 inches. Of course, it didn’t help Leo that they were both a bit on the lanky side (damn high metabolisms) so Piper was easily able to storm over and push the two aside to get to Leo. Fortunately, Nico only rolled to the side, but Will ended up face-first in the sand, spluttering sand out of his mouth when he lifted his head again.

“Hey!” he cried out, glaring over at Piper. “We were relaxing here!”

But she was too busy yelling angrily at Leo. So angrily that Nico was actually surprised she wasn’t charmspeaking Leo into jumping into the sea and never returning.

“You _idiot_!” she yelled. “What do you think would happen if you set off a firework right in front of me?! That I’d laugh and clap, like a freakin’ monkey?! I’m not _stupid_ , Leo!”

The son of Hephaestus was trying desperately to scramble away, although it seemed as if the sand was determined to have him slip as much as possible so that he couldn’t leave. “I-it was an accident, Pipes! Honest! I-I didn’t mean to!”

Piper glared at Leo so hard that Nico was pretty much expecting her eyes to start glowing red – after all, Jason was always going on about how they were like a “ _kaleidoscope_ ” and “ _changed colours all the time_ ”, so it wasn’t exactly unreasonable to assume that they _would_ turn red.

“If you _ever_ even _consider_ doing that again, I will _personally_ make sure that you won’t make it into the New Year, _with_ Calypso’s permission,” she growled. “Is that clear, Valdez?”

Leo nodded earnestly, his eyes wide. He looked like a deer caught in headlights, honestly, and he jumped back when Piper took a threatening step towards him.

Once he felt it was safe to assume that they were done, Nico cleared his throat. “So… you two disturbed our sunbathing session,” he said slowly, a fairly unimpressed look on his face.

Both the daughter of Aphrodite and the son of Hephaestus turned to him slowly, both looking slightly shocked, and Nico knew that if he was in their position, he would have the exact same expression on his face. He also knew that he probably shouldn’t have spoken up – they were _bound_ to say something about who he was there _with_.

“…But you’re a son of _Hades_ ,” Leo pointed out, almost as if he wasn’t sure about the words on his tongue.

Nico blinked and raised an eyebrow – that fact was glaringly obvious, he thought. “Yes, I am.”

“And it’s the middle of the _winter_ ,” Piper added, looking very confused. The soot on her face made her look slightly comical, and Will had to bite his nails to stop himself from laughing.

“Hence the reason why I’m sunbathing _now_ , and not in the summer.”

The two turned to look at Will, who shrugged and pulled his fingers away from his mouth. “I just came along for the sun, to be honest. Time of year doesn’t really bother me at all. After all, sun is sun.”

The two just stared incredulously at Nico and Will, as if they were the two weirdest people in the demigod world. Which they probably were at that moment… not that those two would ever say it to them.

“You two are _perfect_ for each other,” Piper muttered – almost _hissed_ – causing the two males sitting in the sand to flush bright red and Nico, in particular, to glare darkly at her. They were all silent for a good few moments before anyone spoke.

“W-what?!” Will squeaked with wide blue eyes, clearly not expecting that.

Leo took their surprised responses as a chance to run, and Piper bit her lip.

“Uh… you know what? It’s nothing…” She smiled at them innocently. “Well, I’ve really got to go… catch you two later!” And with that, she sprinted after Leo, still calling out threats and insults to the Hephaestus kid.

Will turned to Nico, his blue eyes still very wide. “What was _she_ on about?” he asked, his voice a little shrill and his face still red.

Nico gave a shrug, but didn’t answer, turning away from Will. “We should get back to the others,” he murmured, before standing and beginning to head back up the beach, leaving the son of Apollo bewildered in the sand.

* * *

It seemed that, true to her word, Piper had got some payback on Leo, his neon pink hair a perfect indication of that. Nico would have asked where she got the bright pink hair dye, but then he remembered she was a daughter of _Aphrodite_ , and that some things where better left unknown.

The next time the whole group was together, they were all sat in the Poseidon cabin (after all, of the Big Three gods he was the least bothered about having visitors and also the least creepy in terms of what he allowed in his cabin) on giant blue bean bags, doing some sort of bonding exercise. Or, at least, that’s what Jason called it.

Nico could see that they were just playing games.

At that moment, Percy, Leo, Piper and Calypso were in the middle of an intense game of Twister, which Nico was chosen to oversee, whilst Annabeth and Jason were playing Chess on one of the bunks. Will was watching the twister game, trying not to laugh outright at Percy’s apparent clumsiness and lack of flexibility.

“Left hand… yellow,” Nico called out, and Percy whined loudly. The nearest available spot was on his right, and he couldn’t exactly twist without falling and crushing Leo or Piper, both of whom were beneath him.

“Come on, Nico – spin again and give me a good one!”

“That’s not how the game works, Percy,” Will pointed out, grinning.

Percy shot the son of Apollo a short glare, before sighing and trying to twist to get the spot…

Before slipping and falling, causing Piper and Leo to collapse beneath him and Calypso, who had been off to the side, to come out unscathed.

The daughter of Atlas grinned and stood. “I win! I win!” she exclaimed, jumping up and down on the spot and clapping excitedly.

Leo groaned from his position beneath the son of Poseidon. “Great one, Percy. You’re _fantastic_ at this game.”

“Shut up, Leo,” Percy replied. The son of Poseidon just lay there, groaning.

After a few more moments, Piper decided to speak up. “Percy?” she asked, her voice sounding fairly strained.

“Yeah, Piper?”

“Your _fat ass_ is crushing me. Could you get up? _Please_?”

Percy took a few moments to understand what she was saying, frowning slightly. “I’m sorry?”

“Get your fat ass up and _off me_ , Percy!” The daughter of Aphrodite tried to push him off herself and Leo.

Percy smirked, before going limp. “Gah! Can’t… move…” he groaned, flattening himself against the two people beneath him.

Leo yelped, whining loudly at the sudden dead weight on top of him, before Piper cried out and tried pushing harder.

“ _Percy_!”

Will was in stitches as he watched the three mess about, and even Calypso had let out a few giggles at the unamused look on Leo’s face. Nico cracked a small smile, before getting up and kicking Percy off Piper and Leo. “There you go.”

Percy yelped as he fell off the other two, landing face first on the floor. He grunted, laying there for a few moments, before lifting his head and glaring up at Nico. “Hey!”

“Sorry, you were crushing them. We don’t exactly was them to die from suffocation just yet,” he commented with a simple shrug and a smirk. “Besides, Jason’s too engrossed in a game of chess to—”

“Check. _Mate_.”

The others looked over to where Jason sat with a triumphant grin on his face, whilst Annabeth stared down at the board, a frown on her face. Her grey eyes seemed to be roaming over every piece on the board, and then her eyes widened.

“ _No_ …”

Jason’s grin just grew. “ _Yes_ …”

Annabeth just sat there, staring at the board in shock. “B-but… h-how…?” she stuttered, her eyes still darting over the board.

Jason shrugged, but was still smirking at her.

Percy’s jaw dropped as he pulled himself to his feet quickly. “W-wait… did Jason just…?”

Suddenly, the blonde female stood, before storming out of the room, slamming the door to the cabin shut. There was silence in the room for a few minutes, before someone spoke.

“Jason, you _idiot_.”

* * *

Nico was actually the one to find Annabeth, and she was sat in the mini-library at the back of the Athena cabin, her nose stuck in a book in an attempt to ignore anyone and everyone around her. The son of Hades walked silently into the room after realising that she’d just ignored him, and then came to a stop beside her.

She sighed. “What is it?”

Nico literally blurted out what he said next without thinking it through.

“Jason’s sorry.”

She paused, before putting down her book and turning her full attention onto him. “What was that?” she asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Jason’s sorry.” Nico took a deep breath before continuing. “He didn’t know what he was getting into when he agreed to play chess with you, and he’s well and truly sorry for hurting your feelings.”

Annabeth blinked, before turning away. “That was rehearsed. Piper told you to say that.”

Nico cringed at that. “How did you—?”

“Did you really think I’d believe that you’d risk time away from Will Solace to apologise to me for Jason, who’s the type of person that would come and apologise for himself – especially to me of all people – over a simple game of chess?” She turned and looked Nico straight in the eye. “I’m a daughter of Athena. I’m not _stupid_.”

Nico stared at her, before his face flushed red. “W-w-wait, what do you mean _risk time away from Will_?” he asked, although it sounded more like he was screeching.

“It’s obvious Nico.” She smirked at him as she closed the book in her lap a little. “I may be no child of Aphrodite, but I’m a daughter of Athena, and I’ve dealt with crushes. I can tell.”

Nico scowled and plopped down onto the chair beside Annabeth – a very un-Nico-like thing to do – before folding his arms and huffing.

Annabeth watched Nico with an amused expression on her face, before picking her book back up and reading through it again. “Have you sent in a request?” she asked off-handedly as she turned one of the pages.

Nico’s scowl faded, and he now looked genuinely confused, which was very strange and amusing to Annabeth, because Nico mainly showed only two expressions – anger, and boredom. And both were very often directed at people he didn’t trust. So to experience other emotions from the male… well, that meant he was opening up, didn’t it?

“Sent in a request for what?” the dark haired male asked slowly.

“The fireworks,” she commented nonchalantly. Annabeth looked up at him from her book. “The Stolls don’t usually do it, but apparently this year Leo found a way to personalise the fireworks for different people. If you give in a request, you could do it as a present for Will, considering you didn’t give him a Christmas present.”

Nico tensed at that. “How did you—”

“You seem to forget that I’m also best friends with Piper – I have access to _all_ gossip in the Aphrodite cabin.”

Nico scowled and huffed. “So, what, I’m meant to do this as a present for him?”

“Yes.” The blonde smirked. “You know you want to.”

Nico seemed to contemplate this for a few moments, before standing.

Annabeth grinned triumphantly as she turned back to her book again, turning away from Nico as he headed out of the room. She just knew it.

* * *

The New Year’s fireworks show was a couple of days after Nico had gone to present his request to Leo, which he had wholeheartedly agreed to (he’d sounded almost excited about it, in fact). That alone should have worried Nico, but he found himself getting more nervous about how he was going to _explain_ the present to Will instead of what exactly the present would _be_.

_Great_.

When Jason found the son of Hades, he was pacing his cabin, practically wearing out the floors. In fact, he hadn’t even noticed that Jason had come in, and the son of Jupiter had to slam the door behind him to get Nico to acknowledge him. Unfortunately, that meant scaring the Hades out of Nico, which Jason knew for a fact that he hated.

Nico turned quickly to face the door (after jumping sky-high, of course) and glared darkly at Jason. “What the _Hades_ , Jason?!”

Jason just sighed. “Sorry, sorry, it’s just…” He was quiet for a moment as he thought about what to say next. “Nico, you’ve been in here for hours.”

“So?”

“You told us you’d be five minutes.”

Nico’s glare disappeared almost immediately, and he blinked at Jason. “…Oh.”

“Yeah, _oh_.” The blonde smirked and moved to sit on one of the beds in the cabin, watching Nico. “Nervous about tonight?”

“Gee, what makes you think that?” Nico asked sarcastically, before moving to sit on the bed beside Jason. The two sat in silence for a little while, before Nico spoke up again. “Jason, what do I _do_?”

Jason turned to Nico with a raised eyebrow. “…And you’re asking _me_ because…?”

“You’re in a relationship.”

“Need I remind you who initiated the relationship?” Jason raised an eyebrow at Nico, before chuckling a little. “You’ve just got to… go with your heart. Spontaneous. That’s what people find romantic.”

“I’m not going for romantic.”

“Then what _are_ you going for?”

“I don’t know… something to tell him I want to be in a relationship with him? Something that doesn’t make the whole camp burst into gossip?”

“That last part is going to be really hard to avoid.”

“Oh _gods_ …”

The two laughed, before Jason nudged Nico lightly with his fist. “Just… go with your gut.”

Nico raised an eyebrow. “I’m trying to decide whether that sounds more like something Percy or Piper would say.”

“Why does that matter?” Jason frowned.

“Because if it’s Piper, it’s useful. If it’s Percy, it’s… probably not.”

Jason laughed, although he had to agree with that. The son of Poseidon could give useless advice when it came to anything other than sword fighting. Annabeth was right when she called him a ‘Seaweed Brain’, even if it was affectionate. He stood and smiled down at Nico. “Come on, Nico. Let’s head back to the others so that we can get first picks on where to put our blankets tonight. We want the best spots, don’t we?”

Nico smiled ever so slightly and nodded, standing with his friend. His friend – someone that he could _trust_. Gods… Jason had probably been one of the first good things in his life since Hazel. One of the first friends he’d properly had since first coming to camp, and then… losing his sister. Gods, how had his life turned for the better all of a sudden?

“Aren’t you coming, Nico?”

Nico blinked, and realised that Jason was stood at the door, leaning on the doorframe as he waited. He managed a small nod, and a slight scowl, before heading over to the door to join Jason. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.”

* * *

The day passed quicker than Nico would have liked, and soon enough he and Will were sitting on a blanket with Jason and Piper, just waiting for the fireworks show to begin. The son of Hades was still nervous about what he would have to explain to Will when his present came up, but he decided to just go with what Jason suggested and wing it. That was all he could do now, after all.

The sun had fallen beneath the horizon a mere ten minutes earlier, signalling that the show would begin soon, and many campers had made their way down to the beach to watch the show – some as friends, some as couples, and even some as large groups that may or may not have had nothing better to do because alcohol was still banned at camp. These were generally Dionysus’ and Hermes’ kids, of course.

Just as Nico was trying to think of something else he could do, Will spoke.

“You’re nervous.”

Of course, the son of Apollo wouldn’t ask him whether he was alright – just skip to the statements and accusations.

Nico decided to cover it up, and frowned over at him. “No I’m not.”

“I can tell when you’re lying.”

Nico huffed, glaring down at the sand.

The son of Apollo chuckled a little, before noticing that Nico wasn’t laughing. “What’s wrong?” Will asked.

Just as Nico was about to answer, the first firework went off, shooting into the sky above the camp’s beach and portraying an array of beautiful colours.

“Nothing,” Nico murmured, although he was pretty sure that what he said couldn’t be heard above the sounds of the fireworks.

It went like that for the next hour or so that the fireworks kept going off, until they stopped, making it quiet enough for people to chat.

“That’s it?” Will asked. “I thought this year was meant to be special?”

“It’s because it isn’t midnight yet, you idiot,” Nico grumbled, rolling his eyes, though he had a small smile on his face. “They’ll do it again at the countdown.”

“Ah, okay. They’re doing it differently this year.”

It was then that Jason decided to interrupt their conversation. “Hey, guys? Since we’ve got a few hours, we were thinking of having a small campfire by Leo’s blanket, with s’mores and stuff.” He smiled at them. “Want to join us?”

Nico was in the middle of contemplating this when Will answered for him.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun,” the blonde answered with a smile, before getting up and holding a hand out to help Nico up. “Come on – time for s’mores!”

Nico frowned as he grabbed Will’s hand and used it to pull himself to his feet. He’d heard of “ _s’mores_ ” – Percy seemed to talk a whole lot about them, even though he had never bothered to actually introduce Nico to them properly. Maybe this would be his first ever chance to try one.

Soon enough, they’d all reached Leo’s blanket, where the son of Hephaestus was just making a fire on top of the fire-proof blanket, which Nico was sure Calypso had made just in case Leo accidentally got a little excited about the fireworks.

The group all sat around the fire, chatting away, and Percy was the one who brought out the crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.

Nico watched him curiously. “What are you doing?”

“Making s’mores,” Percy answered simply as he opened the various packets of food, starting on his task of making the campfire food.

Nico frowned in confusion as he tried to watch what exactly Percy was doing, before Will reached over and grabbed some of the food from Percy.

“Here, let me show you,” he told the son of Hades, before going about making the treat for Nico, and the son of Hades watched intently. _Chocolate and a marshmallow smushed between two crackers… what?_ Nico looked very confused as everything was put together, before being put on what looked like a stick and held over the fire.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

Will smirked slightly. “Making a s’more,” he answered calmly, and soon enough Nico realised that everyone else was doing the same thing whilst chatting. Eventually, Will pulled the s’more back from the fire, smiling at Nico. “And that’s a s’more.”

Nico blinked at it, before reaching out to touch it. His hands sizzled slightly, the cold meeting the hot, and he pulled his hand back quickly. “Ow!”

Will laughed. “Careful, it’s hot!”

Nico rolled his eyes. “Thanks…” He tried again, managing to successfully pry the s’more off the stick and holding it for a few moments. “So, do I…”

“Just eat it, Nico,” Jason laughed, and the younger demigod blinked at him before carefully beginning to take a bite.

The melted marshmallow and chocolate on the crunchy crackers was not what he expected at all, and he found himself yelping as some of the gooeyness dribbled down his chin. The others laughed as he tried to lick it off his chin, unintentionally spreading it even more.

Will laughed, before reaching up and wiping away the chocolate from his chin with his thumb. “You missed a bit.”

Nico’s face went red, although it wasn’t clear as to whether it was because of the firelight (plus, if you hadn’t been looking at him before, it wouldn’t be clear) or because of what Will had just done.

However, Percy and Jason shared a knowing smirk, which caused Nico to send them a short glare before going back to eating his s’more.

When they’d all finished their s’mores, they dissolved into a conversation that started on what they’d done over Christmas, and ended up going on to which of the Big Three would win in a fight, which caused the girls to roll their eyes.

“Come on,” Jason said, “it’s obvious that Zeus would win in a battle. How could that even be questioned?”

“Because I’m pretty sure a hurricane could bring him straight down,” Percy pointed out. “And then drown him. And don’t even say that the lightning bolt could be used to fight back, because Poseidon has a trident.”

“You’re forgetting about Hades,” Nico pointed out with a smirk. “I mean, helm of darkness and all that, with all the death and darkness in the world. He could get the earth to swallow Poseidon whole.”

“Yeah, but the light from Zeus’ lightning bolt will get him crawling back into the shadows,” Jason grinned.

Piper’s head fell into her hands as she listened to the boys argue. “It’s like a game of ‘rock, paper, scissors’,” she groaned.

Calypso laughed and nodded. “Yes, it seems so.” She took a piece of chocolate and began to snack on it. “It is as if they feel the need to decide who is the strongest.”

“They don’t need to,” Annabeth sighed. “It’s really annoying having all of this testosterone flying around.”

“Not all of it is flying around, ladies,” Leo pointed out with a wink.

“But most of it is.”

“Are you doubting my manliness?”

“Yes,” Piper answered without hesitation.

Leo would have retorted had Will not interrupted the Big Three boys and announced that it was probably time to head back to their blankets.

“We’ve got about ten minutes until the countdown,” he explained, stopping the argument between the guys before it could go any further. The others agreed, and they began to head to their blankets, Will walking beside Nico.

“So, did you enjoy your first s’more?” Will asked, nudging the smaller male with a smile on his face. Nico smiled slightly and nodded, unconsciously shifting closer to the son of Apollo.

“Yeah, I really liked it.”

“Good. Make sure you get all that sticky stuff off your teeth, though – not good for you. Could make them rot. And _don’t_ start eating s’mores all the time, because I know you and you’re the type of person to do that.”

Nico’s smile dropped as soon as Will started rambling, and he rolled his eyes as he walked. “Yeah, yeah…” he grumbled.

“You’ve got to take me seriously, Nico! It’s for your own good!”

“Mine, or yours?”

Will paused and raised an eyebrow at that. “What?”

Nico shrugged. “Well, I thought that, since I’m your main patient, having me well would have me in the infirmary as little as possible and—”

“Why wouldn’t I want you in the infirmary?” Will asked with a frown.

“Well, I’m not very useful in there. I just do lots of sorting…”

“Which leaves behind less for the rest of us.” Will placed a hand on Nico’s shoulder. “I love having you in there!”

Nico noticed how the taller male’s face tinted a faint pink, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he grabbed Will’s hand and began to pull him towards the blanket, giving the excuse that they “didn’t want to miss the show” and that they’d lose their spot if they didn’t hurry up. The two ended up breaking into a short run, landing on the blanket in a heap with Nico’s legs on top of Will’s and the two demigods laughing.

_Laughing_. Now, _that_ wasn’t something that Nico did often.

Before Will could say anything about that, however, the fireworks began again, designs flying across the sky in an array of different colours. Nico’s heartbeat picked up as he began to think about how he would tell Will that he’d made a request for them… or rather, _him_. It wouldn’t do to just… wait for the fireworks to show and then go: ‘ _Hey! So… uh… those are for you…_ ’

It was a shame that that was what ended up happening anyway.

Just as Nico’s train of thought ended, a bright firework caught his eye.

This firework, unlike the rest, looked yellow and silver in the night sky. It also happened to be the one firework that happened during the final countdown from twenty. The fireworks formed a yellow sun in the sky, a silver skull growing within it. Then, just after the skull, multiple small hearts appeared around the shapes in the sky.

Nico froze, and he glanced over at Will, who was watching everything with a slightly amused expression on his face.

When the fireworks disappeared, he turned to Nico. “Was that… was that for us?” he asked, a small smirk on his features.

_5…_

“Well, um…” Nico stammered, not knowing what to say as he looked down at the sand by his feet.

_4…_

What was he _supposed_ to say?

_3…_

He wracked his mind, trying to come up with something to say to at least make the conversation a _little bit_ less awkward.

_2…_

“Nico…?” Will asked slowly, the small smirk still present on his face – that infuriating smirk that he gave Nico when he was being all doctor-y and knew he was right.

_1…_

Nico took a deep breath. “It was a gi—”

The son of Hades was cut off by a pair of lips pressing against his, and suddenly the world around him faded – it was just him and Solace, his first New Year’s kiss. The warmth that Nico felt whenever he touched Will spread throughout his whole body like an electric shock, and he felt his hands moving to the sides of Will’s face, cupping his warm cheeks.

And then it was over, and Will pulled away. Which Nico was glad for – he needed the air, and he doubted that he would’ve had the sense to pull away. As soon as his lips were gone, the world around him came into focus again, and he could hear the whoops and cheers of the other campers.

They’d made it.

Another year.

But Nico had something else on his mind.

“S-so…” he squeaked, “I’m guessing it’s official then?”

Will grinned.

“Yeah… yeah. You _definitely_ belong with me.”


End file.
